Audun Formo Hay

• Vink, Josina; Rodrigues, Vanessa; Hay, Audun Formo; Petrusson, Karin; Legeby, Matilda & Wetter-Edman, Katarina [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2026). Beyond projects: A programmatic approach to service system transformation. The Design Journal. ISSN 1460-6925. p. 1–22. doi: 10.1080/14606925.2026.2703131. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Service design has broadened its aims from new service development towards service system transformation. Despite the complexity, uncertainty and non-linearity of such an ambition, service design continues to employ project-based structures to organize its processes. Recognizing that such organizing frameworks often limit service design’s transformative potential, this paper explores how a programmatic approach can be applied to service design practice aimed at service system transformation. Drawing on learnings from three service design programs conducted in Norway and Sweden, we outline four core contributions of a programmatic approach to service system transformation: 1) supporting open-ended inquiry; 2) encouraging situated experimentation; 3) promoting adaptation through oscillation; and 4) cultivating collective reflexive action. This paper unpacks the struggles that adopting a programmatic approach in practice entails and offers practical considerations for practitioners in how to steward a programmatic approach.

• Hay, Audun Formo; Vink, Josina; Thøgersen, Dagfinn Mørkrid; Ness, Ottar; Heimburg, Dina von & Sangiorgi, Daniela (2026). Connected Friction - Collectively Designing Service Ecosystems Through Reflexive Relations. Journal of Service Research. ISSN 1094-6705. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Designing service ecosystems is a collective endeavour in which interdependent actors intentionally reconfigure the social structures coordinating their value cocreation. Because actors experience structures differently, however, they often disagree about how to reconfigure them. Although reflexivity has been identified as a key enabler for service ecosystem design, research has primarily treated it as an individual capacity. Yet transformation guided only by reflexive individuals risks unintended consequences for others and rupturing the relations on which value cocreation depends. In response, we examine how reflexive relations can be stewarded to support service ecosystem design in pursuit of desirable collective outcomes. We define reflexive relations as a form of interaction in which differently positioned actors jointly render the institutionalized social structures coordinating their value cocreation observable, contestable, and open to reconfiguration. Through a twoyear cooperative inquiry in Norwegian child welfare, we identify connected friction as the core dialectic dynamic through which reflexive relations emerge, with uniformity and rupture as hindering dynamics. We also identify four situated conditions—practical distance, actor perspectives, emotional effort, and institutional legitimacy—that require continual attunement to steward reflexive relations in practice. This research reconceptualizes reflexivity as emerging through actors’ relations and shows how ongoing stewardship can leverage conflicting interdependencies as a generative resource for designing service ecosystems.

• Vink, Josina; Rodrigues, Vanessa; Hay, Audun Formo; Petrusson, Karin; Legeby, Matilda & Wetter-Edman, Katarina [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2025). From projects to programs: An alternative approach to service design practice. ServDes'25. p. 1–21. doi: 10.21606/servdes2025.41. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Service design (SD) practice has been shifting its aims from new service development toward service system transformation. Despite the complexity, uncertainty and non-linearity of such an ambition, SD continues to employ project based structures to organise its processes. Recognising that such organising frameworks often limit service design’s transformative potential, this paper explores how a programmatic approach can be applied to SD practice aimed at service system transformation. Drawing from three SD programs conducted in Norway and Sweden, we outline four core contributions of a programmatic approach to service system transformation: 1) supporting open-ended inquiry; 2) encouraging situated experimentation; 3) promoting adaptation through oscillation; and 4) cultivating collective reflexive action. This paper unpacks the struggles that adopting a programmatic approach in practice entails and offers considerations for SD practitioners in how to strategically navigate related challenges.

• Vink, Josina; Hay, Audun Formo & Duan, Zhipeng (2025). Reimagining service design through relational perspectives. Journal of Services Marketing. 39(7), p. 738–747. doi: 10.1108/JSM-12-2024-0648. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Purpose: The purpose of this commentary is to adapt the underpinnings of service design by integrating relational perspectives. This adaptation is needed to avoid reproducing the assumption of separateness in transformation efforts, which can inadvertently contribute to perpetuating multiple, intersecting global crises. Approach: Taking a conceptual approach of theory integration, we draw on relational theories from the relational turn in sociology and anthropology to delineate four core tenets of relationality in service design. Findings: The core tenets of relationality in service design are: 1) actors are constituted by their relations; 2) service systems are entanglements of manifold relations; 3) agency is an emergent property of interaction; and 4) change is a non-deterministic process of becoming-in-relation. Originality: While many scholars call for a more relational understanding and approach to service design, this commentary is the first to build out the theoretical underpinning and identify clear practice implications to support this effort. Research implications: This commentary outlines a host of emerging research questions based on each of the core tenets to guide researchers interested in advancing relationality in service design. It also brings forward research questions connected to adopting an ethics of care in service design. Practical implications: We highlight clear practical implications for service design practice based on each core tenet, including the need to focus on the interdependence of actors and incorporate externalities. We call for adopting an ethics of care that involves practices of tinkering and holding onto difference amid situated attempts to shape relations otherwise.

• Hay, Audun Formo; Vink, Josina & Sangiorgi, Daniela (2024). Enabling Relational Adaptation: Flipping the Script in Public Service Design. International Journal of Design. ISSN 1991-3761. 18(3), p. 9–27. doi: 10.57698/v18i3.02. Full text in Research Archive
• Hay, Audun Formo; Romm, Jonathan; Hay, Simen Formo; Mikae, Hobbe; Holm, Bjørgum Jenny & Lara, van der Poel [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2024). Acting on Emotions: Designing with the relational dramas in welfare systems. Contexts: The Systemic Design Journal. doi: 10.58279/v2005. Full text in Research Archive
• Hay, Audun Formo; Vink, Josina; Suoheimo, Mari Eveliina & Thøgersen, Dagfinn Mørkrid (2024). Why do Service Designers Struggle to Address Power Dynamics? Strategic Design Research Journal. 16(1), p. 189–189. doi: 10.4013/sdrj.2023.161.13. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  To support transformation in service systems, scholars argue for greater attention to power dynamics in service design (SD). While current literature stresses the need for individual service designers to be reflexive about power, it neglects the context within which these designers predominantly work. We argue that such an individual focus overlooks key contextual factors that hinder service designers from addressing power dynamics. This narrowed view of the challenge unintentionally positions service designers as scapegoats, while their inability to address power dynamics effectively persists. In response, we draw on ecological theories in psychology, which offer insights into how individuals’ behaviors are interconnected with factors in their context. We introduce a framework for understanding these interconnections, detailing how we used it to identify and analyze domains of contextual factors that inhibit service designers to address power dynamics in practice. By proposing a systemic framework, identifying related contextual factors, and evaluating applicability with service designers, this study lays the groundwork for structural shifts to address power dynamics in service design more effectively.

• Hay, Audun Formo; Suoheimo, Mari Eveliina & Vink, Josina (2023). The Context of Addressing Power Dynamics in Service Design. In Cipolla, Carla; Mont’Alvão, Claudia; Farias, Larissa & Quaresma, Manuel (Ed.), Proceedings of ServDes 2023: Entanglements and Flows Service Encounters and Meanings. Linköping University Electronic Press. ISSN 9789180754767. doi: 10.3384/ecp203033. Full text in Research Archive
• Hay, Audun Formo & Vink, Josina (2023). The Emotional Neglect in Recent Service Design Developments. Nordic Journal of Innovation in the Public Sector (NJIPS). 2(1), p. 22–42. doi: 10.18261/njips.2.1.3. Full text in Research Archive

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• Hay, Audun Formo; Ness, Ottar & Heimburg, Dina von (2025). Ølhunden som endelig fikk bety noe. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Ølhunden Berit minner oss om at mennesker trenger å bety noe for andre. Det er selve grunnmuren i et samfunn der folk skal leve meningsfulle liv.

• Hay, Audun Formo; Mikae, Hobbe; Bjørgum, Jenny Holm; Halvorsen, Anna Kristine Aarø; Wang, Yijuan & Poel, Lara van der [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2024). Relating Systems Experiences and Design: Sparking conversations with theatre. Full text in Research Archive
• Hay, Audun Formo; Thøgersen, Dagfinn Mørkrid & Christensen, Bernadette (2024). Multisystemisk terapi. In Kvello, Øyvind & Lorås, Lennart (Ed.), Håndbok i foreldreveiledning. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245036770. p. 175–194. Full text in Research Archive
• Hay, Audun Formo (2024). Enabling Relational Adaptation: Flipping the Script inPublic Service Design. Full text in Research Archive
• Hay, Audun Formo (2024). Emotions and Service Ecosystem Design. Full text in Research Archive
• Hay, Audun Formo (2023). Barnekonvensjoner - en julefortelling. Full text in Research Archive
• Hay, Audun Formo (2023). Designing for Transformation in Ecologies of Emotions. Full text in Research Archive
• Hay, Audun Formo (2023). Unmasking the Drama of Emotional Work. Full text in Research Archive
• Hay, Audun Formo (2025). Designing public service systems from within. Arkitektur- og designhøgskolen i Oslo. ISSN 9788254703809. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Public service systems are essential for advancing social outcomes such as dignity, equity, and inclusion. Scholars increasingly recognize that sustaining such outcomes depends on the ability of actors within these systems to shape their interactions in response to diverse and evolving situations. Yet, current public service design approaches often yield fixed outputs that unintentionally lock actors into predetermined ways of relating. These solutions solidify into tomorrow’s legacy practices, creating rigidity rather than adaptability in public service systems. This thesis explores how public service systems can be collectively and continually designed from within by the actors who inhabit them. It positions design not only as a distinct approach carried out by a few, but as the intentional shaping activities undertaken by everyone involved in or affected by public service systems. It argues that enabling actors to engage in collective and continual designing is key to sustaining socially desirable outcomes in diverse and changing societies. The thesis proposes a relational perspective on public service design, integrating insights from service ecosystem design, relational construction, and relational sociology. From this perspective, public service systems are not fixed structures but are continuously shaped through the relations among those involved. Grounded in three interconnected explorations within the Norwegian child welfare system, the research develops insights into how actors can be enabled to design their relations in ways that feel meaningful. These insights emerged over 2.5 years of practical, participatory, and situated design work with social workers, young people, families, and professionals from related services. The explorations involved a range of design experiments that examined how participants could shape their everyday interactions within existing constraints and possibilities. The thesis makes three main contributions to public service design research. First, it reframes public service design as a collective and continual process shaped by what interdependent actors do together. Second, it proposes four shifts in focus to support this process: from scripting interaction to enabling relational rescripting; from abstracting conflict to acting on felt friction; from centralizing innovation to nurturing everyday experimentation; and from episodic projects to embedding collective reflexivity. Third, it outlines practical implications for public service professionals seeking to support collective and continual design processes. Together, these contributions lay a foundation for future work that places people’s situated relations at the center of adaptable public service design. Rather than producing solutions that become tomorrow’s rigid procedures, the thesis calls for enabling actors to continuously navigate, experiment with, and transform public service systems through how they relate.

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